SOECharter/Charter Petition/LCAP

What is an Affiliated Charter?

Sherman Oaks Elementary Charter (SOEC) became an affiliated charter school in 2011.  As an affiliated charter school, LAUSD serves as the district board for our school, so we still have many similarities to traditional district schools. SOEC must continue to adhere to district policy in most cases and SOEC’s teachers and staff are employees of the district and members of its collective bargaining units and UTLA. However, as an affiliated charter school, SOEC is “semi-autonomous” and is able to determine what our school philosophy is, budgeting, set how the curriculum will be delivered, hire personnel, and determine our own governance. Because we have more site-based freedom over budgeting and educational programming than traditional LAUSD schools, it allows us to better determine how resources will be allocated based on our student population. In addition, SOEC still enjoys some of the districts services, such as purchasing personnel and services from the district, the ability to participate in district program and professional development, offer the Beyond the Bell program to students, and much more.

The goals for our school include:

-Having greater autonomy over our school’s curriculum, budget, and governance.

-Taking steps to involve the whole community, parents, teachers and administration, in the adoption and advancement of our educational program – as well as making us all accountable for results.

-Using the additional funding to adopt innovative programs to help close some of the achievement gaps, enhance learning opportunities for all students, and to develop best practices to share with other schools in the district.

-Providing an enriched educational program that exceeds academic standards established by the state and district through the integration of technology, science, art and music in a project-based, hands-on learning instructional environment.